She announced Tuesday she was defecting and joining the rebels locked in a 16-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

Brigadier-General Manaf Tlas, the highest-ranked defector till date from the Syrian regime, in a message aired late Tuesday urged Syrians to unite and look towards a free and democratic post-revolutionary Syria.

Tlas’s broadcast was aired by Arabic satellite TV channel Al-Arabiya, reportedly from Paris. It was his first public appearance since he fled Syria earlier this month.